My own personal open rant

As for bad forum run ins, I recently attempted to join Sonic Retro. Not only do they make you write a post explaining why you joined before they activate you, you have to "prove" to them that you aren't an idiot and they give you 20 posts. Then they basically decide if they like you or not and can then choose to not activate your account after 20 posts. For some reason I was rejected. of course they don't allow you to post or contact a staff member to ask why. I think it was because I disagreed with a staff member about graphics being the most important thing in a video game

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Huh, sounds like a virtual Studio 54 or something, mods enjoying the power of being able to turn people away, lol.

Well most forums have rules against making threads about your own websites and stuff. Usually you can advertise in your signature as long as you don't mention it or encourage people to take a look. It kinda deafeats the purposes of advertising I suppose.

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Yeah I know, I kinda mentioned that earlier in the thread.

Forums aside and such, let's forget forums for now, what else do you guys recommend?

Public Access maybe? Do they even have public access stations anymore let alone people watching them?

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Sure they do... matter of fact, some people in this town are angry right now because an atheistic group have been producing a series on community television teaching kids about Darwin's theory of evolution as if it's some sort of Satanic brainwashing or something.

But yeah, I was working on a show with Steve for public access, but unfortunately that never came to fruition for a variety of different reasons.

I'm astonished that there are forums out there that don't encourage self-promotion and actually frown on the practice! I suggest finding better company. MC, Tough Pigs and the Mindset have always been wonderful to me and many other artists too. I've seldom met a working artist who hasn't helped me plug my work and vice-versa.

Ad banners in posts is another matter. Too many graphics in a post can be ugly and break the flow of the page. Other than that...just sounds crazy! Maybe other forums are different.

As for bad forum run ins, I recently attempted to join Sonic Retro. Not only do they make you write a post explaining why you joined before they activate you, you have to "prove" to them that you aren't an idiot and they give you 20 posts. Then they basically decide if they like you or not and can then choose to not activate your account after 20 posts. For some reason I was rejected. of course they don't allow you to post or contact a staff member to ask why. I think it was because I disagreed with a staff member about graphics being the most important thing in a video game

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I'd tend to think that a LOT of the Sonic fanbase is very screwed up. I know of a LOT of fanbases you should never attempt to follow, but there's something just completely tainted with the Sonic community. I'd take it they get way too many jokers, and then they became completely dictatorlike trying to weed out anyone that bugs them.

But I've had my fill of forums (other than this one, of course)... too many people just trying to bring down every little thing that annoys them. Essentially trolling on every little thread, going out of their way to tear anyone who wants to have a conversation down... all with Eric Cartman type immaturity and malice (not to mention vocabulary that contains the word "retarded"). Just awful, awful people who get a rise out of mocking anyone inbetween games of Halo. Really... nasty little pieces of excrement. And there's nothing ANYONE could do, as they were friends of the moderators, and they refused to discipline them, no matter how repetitive their behavior was.

And of course, sometimes Mods that pick on you for no good reason. Everyone else can break every single rule, but you stumble on a very insane obscure one, and they'll jump on you, shouting "MINUS 10!" like those lizards that run the Health Spa on Rocko's Modern Life.

And of course, sometimes Mods that pick on you for no good reason. Everyone else can break every single rule, but you stumble on a very insane obscure one, and they'll jump on you, shouting "MINUS 10!" like those lizards that run the Health Spa on Rocko's Modern Life.

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Sheesh...is the term "snerts" still in use? VERY glad I don't really spend much time online. What a soul-sucking void much of it is, with too many emotional-seven-year-olds given far too much power and control. Small wonder advertisers dumb down, at that rate, if this is the prevalent money-spending culture...

Snowth, NOT all vampire fans like Breaking Prawn, okay? I was into the undead years before it became pop culture...try checking out specialty forums like those for early Anne Rice, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and the modern fad of paranormal romance vamps. A lot of it may not appeal to you personally...but THEY might like your stuff! Agree with Jamie: join the ones which look potentially cross-pollinatible, post a while and get to know them, and then see what they think of you plugging your work. Obviously this concept applies to anything you do: think of other places/people which might overlap, even if it's not normally someplace you'd go. Common ground, friend, common ground. It does and will exist for any art you create...you just have to find your market!
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I'd tend to think that a LOT of the Sonic fanbase is very screwed up. I know of a LOT of fanbases you should never attempt to follow, but there's something just completely tainted with the Sonic community. I'd take it they get way too many jokers, and then they became completely dictatorlike trying to weed out anyone that bugs them.

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Most Sonic forums try to keep the jokers away. The screwed up fans who want to make out with Sonic typically do not join forums. Sonic Retro seems to be taking things a bit to the extreme though. To be honest, I don't care. Their staff seem full of themselves and have inflated egos

Most Sonic forums try to keep the jokers away. The screwed up fans who want to make out with Sonic typically do not join forums. Sonic Retro seems to be taking things a bit to the extreme though. To be honest, I don't care. Their staff seem full of themselves and have inflated egos

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Forum member Beaker always commends me for being one of the few "sane" Sonic fans out there.

But I see where the problem lies. There's 2 factions I've heard complaints about... the obvious So Furry that they have sexual desires towards the characters group (which also poisoned the Tiny Toons fanbase... sure, I like FiFi le Fume, but not that much) and incredibly ungrateful people who outwardly hate any new Sonic project before it even comes out. Now, I can see where the second group comes from. I heard nothing but bad things about some of the modern era games... but these aren't thoughtful "I wish they'd revisit the earlier games to see what was so magical about them. That's very much absent in these new games." They're more like "I h8 everything new, even though the only old Sonic games I've ever played were on emulators because my parents didn't even meet until after Sonic and Knuckles was released. And now I'm going to rant about the voice actors." Ones that piggyback on the thoughtful complaints like they really know anything.

Now, I gotta admit, I haven't really played any Sonic game that wasn't on a friend's Genesis. I've only played a couple in store bits and pieces of the new games, and I can see their point... but there's just something so complainy about the fandom, and I think that's why the board members are unnecessarily strict. But that's just a guess.

Still, bored at a bus stop, I read the letter page of a Sonic comic, where some obviously young kid ranted about how Sonic should be with Amy, only knowing of the character through (I'm guessing) Sonic X and the newer games, completely ignoring the fact that the comic's almost 20 years old (still ongoing), and they're basically following a set up from an almost 20 year old cartoon.

I've been doing webcomics online for over a decade. And yeah, when I spent hundreds of dollars on nice banner ads on other video game/webcomic/nerd sites, there was a lot of immediate results. Sometimes up to 12,000 unique ip visitors a day. But now I like the whole magic of "if you build it...". People have been slow to embrace tumblr, soundcloud, youtube, vimeo, etc. But for musicians, artists, etc it's wonderful. I started a new webcomic series last week for the heck of it after a long hiatus from that field, and already have people reblogging and commenting on it. The secret is if you're doing something youre inspired with and feel is a unique voice, people will find it.
Same with my songs. I created a new project and uploaded songs to tumblr, youtube and soundcloud and already have people wanting to remix, collaborate or spin my songs. I think it's ok to post plug stuff on forums you've been on a long time, but from my own experience(of trial and error) people generally roll their eyes at self promotion on forums.

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What irks me are all the ballot checks for local judges. Keep? Retain? I don't know any a' these mooks! Have to dig up research just to figure out if they're decent judges or legally impaired... And the local initiatives are confusing, and seem poorly written. This state NEEDS a "none of the above" choice for this kinda thing.

YouTube has really given people a handicap right now with their new design, and I'm tankin' here because of it... so, forgive me, whilst I shamelessly plug the first in hopefully three (though, there might only be two, I don't know) new Christmas entries this year:

Every time I go on YouTube, the format keeps changing, the weather is absolutely ridiculous. 53 degrees! Can it get any worse? If it's 60 degrees, I am gonna get upset. Also, I don't have any Muppet toys. (sighs) This year really had some bumps on all of us.